Christ the Cornerstone
The voice of God speaks to us, sometimes loudly, sometimes softly
After the Lord was baptized, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and the voice of the Father thundered: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Mt 3:16-17).
God speaks to us, his people, in various ways depending on our ability to hear and understand him. In the Gospel for this Sunday, the Baptism of the Lord, we hear that the Father “thundered” his affirmation of Jesus as his beloved Son. In the Old Testament (1 Kgs 19:11-13), we are told that God also speaks softly—with a “still, small voice.”
The baptism of Jesus was a public event that took place after many years of preparation during the quiet phase of his life. During this gathering of people who had come to receive the baptism that John offered, we can imagine that there was the kind of noise and distraction that any crowd generates. On the most basic level, God the Father “thunders” in order to make sure his voice is heard.
But there is more to this than the fact of his being heard above the crowd. Thunder is a symbol of majesty and awe. What the Father proclaims here is the awesome truth that Jesus is Lord and Savior, the one who has been sent to redeem us from sin and death. John the Baptist has already prepared us for this divine revelation by saying: “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Lk 3:16).
Jesus, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, is mightier than John. He is both God and man, and his symbolic baptism is a sign that he freely takes upon himself the weight and the sorrow of our sins.
In the second reading for this Sunday’s liturgy, St. Paul offers a powerful reflection on the mystery of the Lord’s baptism in the Jordan. Paul says:
“When the kindness and generous love of God our Savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life” (Ti 3:4-7).
Nothing we have done, or could ever do, can justify the grace poured out on us “through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” that we received when we were baptized in Christ Jesus. Our salvation is unmerited and undeserved. It is pure gift. Through it, we have become sons and daughters of the same Father, and we have received the hope of eternal life with him.
Just as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as he was baptized by John in the Jordan, the same Spirit was present and active at the time each of us received the great sacrament of our rebirth and renewal. For most of us, this was a quiet event that took place among family, friends and perhaps fellow parishioners. The priest or deacon who administered this great sacrament probably did not “thunder” the prayers, but he did speak with God’s voice in a manner appropriate to the occasion.
Every baptism provides us with an opportunity to reflect with majesty and awe on the wonder of God’s mercy. Every person who is baptized, whether as an infant, child, adolescent or adult, is being born again in God’s grace “with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Everyone who receives this incomparable gift from God is liberated from the bondage of sin and death and becomes an heir to eternal life.
No wonder we can rejoice in the simple act of humility that is represented in the Baptism of the Lord. No wonder the Father is pleased. His only beloved Son has agreed to take on himself the sins of the world. He has freely and selflessly volunteered to empty himself, as St. Paul teaches, taking on the form of a servant.
What is taking place here, in our celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, is a revelation of God speaking to us—both loudly, in the thundering voice of the Father, and softly, in the quiet acceptance of Jesus’ baptism by John.
During this Jubilee Year of Hope, let us give thanks to God for the sacrament of baptism and for the words that he speaks in the stillness of our hearts. †